Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-10-11
HANDlCAPS ON HOSPITALITY.
Tho Coming OF the Guest Implies an Up
heayal of the Routine of Living.

Tho Coming OF the Guest Implies an Up
heaval of the Routine of Living.
With every advance that the world has
made it has left some virtue behind.
Now, it becomes a question whether the
virtue of hospitality is not to be the next
sacrifice to the elaborate civilization of
modern life.
The chief causes which threaten its ex-
tinction are three: First, the enormous
increase of travel; second, the pressure Of
occupation; and third, the growing ex-
pensiveness of living, especially in the
great centerS.
The passion for travel which has devel-
oped III all countries, but most here in
America, makes people unwilling to keep
up a complicated establishment which
must be shut up or left to run itself when
the proprietor takes his winter trip to
Florida or his summer jaunt to Norway.
Each year, therefore, increases the num-
Der Of people who prefer to live in g hotel,
or an apartment, with the fewest possible
servants. This at once becomes q handi-
cap on hospitality, since the coming Of q
guest implies an immediate upheaval of
the routine Of living.
a yohng married man was recently look
ing over the plan of a fat which he was
considering for future home, when
friend at his elbow remarked: "But 1t
gives you no guest room" Exactly so,"
was the cynical response, "thas is why I
have decided to take it,"
The statement may seem brutal, but
it is fact patent to all, that to keep open
house in New York is to keep a railroad
hotel. The strain upon the nervous vital
ity of the host, and especially the hostess,
would be enormous, even if it were their
only occupation; but that it seldom is.
Never perhaps in the history of the
world has the pressure on the vitality, the
time and the nerves of men and women
been so great as it IS today. How can
woman sit down to calm enjoyment Of q
visit, when she is haunted by the ghosts
of unwritten letters, unreturned calls and
unread books; not to mention such proSaic
specters as undarned stockings and I'M
cared for children? These duties may be
put aside for one guest, but when the
circle becomes unending, they grow into
impossibilitieS
The strain upon the man of the house
is almost as great. He returns from
days work at the Office, which leaves
every nerve throb5ing with irritation. He
is fit for nothing but dressing sack, pipe
and slippers before the fire, or restful
nap on the sofa. Instead, he is requested
to hurry off TO meet bis wife's cousins, or,
still worse, his own, who are to arrive at
the Grand Central station from Dakota at
7:S0 Their arrival delays the dinner
hour, thereby adding Indigestion TO his
other troubles.
So long as the expenses OF living fall
we'll within the income. hospitalityiS COM
paratively easy, but the moment there is
any difficulty in meeting the monthly
bills visitor is actually dreaded. The
small family economies must either be
put aside and the financial problem allowed
10 grow still moro complicated, or they
must be made painfully apparent when
contrasted with the aggressive abundance
which riots in the streets about How
true is the saying that New York belongs
TO the very rich and the very poor! For
the modest income there seems TO be no
abiding place in New York.-Parke Car
roll in The Epoch.